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wvacs.cavers@gmail.com

COVID-19 ANNOUNCEMENT

Group use of the fieldstations is not permitted at this time and will not resume until further notice. Members may still use the fieldstation, but use is discouraged. We recommend tent or car camping to maintain social distancing. ONLY USE THE FIELDSTATIONS IF YOU HAVE TESTED NEGATIVE FOR COVID-19 OR ARE 100% CERTAIN YOU HAVE NOT BEEN EXPOSED. If you visit the fieldstations and later learn you are infected, please let the president or directors know ASAP using their email addresses or wvacs[dot]cavers[at]gmail[dot]com. Questions about the fieldstation's status and organizational updates can also be sent to the latter address. The April business meeting is moved to May and may be held remotely (TBA). Thank you for taking precautions against spreading the disease.

General information

WVACS members have contributed to the survey of at least 350 miles of cave passages in West Virginia, and many more throughout the country and around the world. WVACS teamed up with the West Virginia Speleological Survey (WVASS) to publish a large, comprehensive bulletin covering the caves and karst of the Buckeye Creek Cave watershed (1994) and Culverson Creek Cave watershed (2018). The latter cave is currently 20.8 miles long and home to a diverse suite of cave passages. Culverson Creek is a veritable river, so the cave is sporting! A recent bolt climb will probably add more mileage to the cave. Additional bulletins are in various stages of preparation.

The organization welcomes cavers from all corners of the world. A member serves as a sign-in sponsor on Project Weekends or "off weekends". If a person decides that he/she wants to join, she simply asks someone to sponsor her as a new member.

Research and WVACS

As an institution, WVACS actively promotes research. The facilities are made available to scientists, including graduate students who have lived in the fieldstations for months at a time. Students can now apply for grants too. As a part of this process, we attempt to encourage and support the collection of important speleological information as well as its dissemination through publications and newsletters.

Recent Events

Maxwelton Sink Cave and McClungs Cave were connected by divers Brian Williams and Zeb Lilly in August 2019 to create the Great Savannah Cave System, which as of mid-March 2020 has a surveyed length of 42.51 miles and is the third longest cave in West Virginia and the ninth longest in the USA! This comes three years after a major breakout in Maxwelton Sink Cave created the possibility of a connection. The system is 588 feet deep and scores of big leads remain in the Maxwelton breakout section (now over 10 miles long). Click to view a map sheet.

A major project continues to survey and fully explore Windy Mouth Cave (click name to see working map). Purported to contain 18 miles of passage, the cave lacks a modern map and has many leads. The survey has already topped 16 miles under the direction of Nick “Peppy” Socky, Kelly McCarthy, and Joe Calderone.

New discoveries in Bash Cave have grown the cave's length to 2.06 miles, including a borehole found in mid-September 2019.

The Dry Cave (click name to see working map) survey has reached 7.06 miles and a major breakout occurred in July 2019. The cave is - despite the name - wet, but possibly the most decorated and coldest cave in the area.